When the sun began to set, Leon, who averaged two shots per minute, finally completed 200 rounds of live ammunition shooting and upgraded his shooting badge from black iron to bronze.
[Shooter: Although your experience with firearms wasn't long, your exceptional talent and rigorous training have made you a qualified shooter.]
[Equipped Effect: Through extensive practice, you have familiarized yourself with the distribution rules of bullet placements. When consciously adjusting your aim, your shooting accuracy will be greatly enhanced.]
[Advancement Route: Complete 5,000 live ammunition shots, or 30,000 simulated activations to automatically promote this badge to the Silver Badge "Shooting Expert," current progress 0/5000, 0/30000.]
[Hidden Traits (no need to equip): As a firearms enthusiast, your shooting stability will slightly increase when using your familiar pistol.]
*To continue improving, do I need to shoot another five thousand rounds?*
After reading the badge system prompt, Leon estimated his shooting speed and found that completing these five thousand rounds would take nearly forty hours if done earnestly.
And if the shooting requirement from silver to gold increases proportionally from 200 to 5000, the time required could reach thousands of hours.
*While practicing earnestly, shot by shot, could improve basic skills, it's far from the enhancement a high-level badge brings, so… maybe try finding a shortcut?*
As soon as he thought of it, he acted!
With the sole aim of earning badges, Leon didn't focus and breathe deeply this time. Instead, after setting up the air tank, he aimed roughly and fired.
Switching from precise aiming to a haphazard approach significantly increased his speed. Excluding reloading and setup time, he managed to shoot over a dozen rounds in a minute, and with the [Materialist Soul] enhancing accuracy, five or six of those random shots actually hit.
However, when Leon stopped shooting and checked the [Shooter] badge panel, he found, to his disappointment, that all those rounds didn't increase the "proficiency" advancement, which remained at 0/5000.
*So it seems it's necessary to practice diligently…*
Shaking his head, Leon gave up the idea of taking shortcuts, glanced at the sky, and then dismantled his sniper rifle, packed it into a large canvas bag, and left the shooting range with some effort.
Shortly after he left, a female police officer with tanned skin in a black uniform walked in quickly. After checking a few empty spots, she chose the range Leon just vacated.
Appearing slightly weary, she seemed preoccupied. After hoarsely greeting the two managers, she took the firearm she chose to the shooting position and waved a yellow flag symbolizing five hundred meters.
When the distant target slowly rose, the policewoman took a deep breath, bit her lip, moved her eyes to the back of the sight, and placed her slender finger firmly on the trigger…
Seeing the target through the sight, riddled with five or six large holes, the policewoman furrowed her brow. She raised a small black flag to call over the range manager.
"This target hasn't been changed."
Pointing at the wooden target in the distance, the policewoman said expressionlessly, "You can see the previous shooter's bullet holes on it."
Hearing the policewoman's words, the range manager hurriedly apologized and then, with a smile, explained, "An unfamiliar face was here earlier. He seemed awkward in his preparation. After a few shots, he voluntarily switched to a mid-range target. We thought he didn't hit long-range targets, so we didn't rush to change the target. Sorry."
Waving her hand dismissively, the policewoman squinted at the target paper through the sight and then, frowning, coldly asked, "I noticed the holes on the target are quite large. Was this caused by bullets losing control and rolling after exceeding the maximum firearm range by more than thirty meters?
"Hasn't the department been emphasizing control recently, trying to minimize unnecessary harm? Why is someone still practicing something that surely kills if hit?"